Balancing rights and security

Last week, the House of Commons began debate on Bill C-22 — a measure which is “long overdue” according to Wesley Wark, a national security professor at the University of Ottawa.

This legislation creates a special committee of members of Parliament and senators with extraordinary access to classified information, and a mandate to ensure that the government is effective at keeping Canadians safe, while equally safeguarding their rights and freedoms. It’s a major boost in the accountability of those responsible for our collective security.

The committee will be independent and non-partisan. Only four of its nine members (seven MPs and two senators) will be from the government. Ministers and parliamentary secretaries are not allowed. It will have the resources to get the job done. It will set its own agenda and report when it sees fit.

Unlike existing national security review bodies, it will not be siloed to one agency — the committee will be able to examine any department or agency responsible for any aspect of national security or intelligence, going wherever the evidence takes them.

It fills a major gap. Canada is the only “Five Eyes” country (Canada, the U.S., Britain, Australia and New Zealand) without a parliamentary review mechanism. Such a mechanism has been recommended repeatedly over the past decade — in two parliamentary reports, by two independent inquir- ies and by the auditor general. We’ve tried to learn from the experience of others, while crafting an approach for Canada that best suits our circumstances.

The University of Ottawa’s Craig Forcese — an expert on national security law — says the model in Bill C-22 ” … will be a stronger body than the U.K. and Australian equivalents.” It will set a new standard.

The core idea of parliamentary review has attracted widespread support. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has called this bill “crucial.” Both the New Democratic Party and the Conservative party support it in principle. Both have also signalled interest in debating certain details. That’s exactly what the legislative process in Parliament is for. I look forward to those robust discussions, and I will be anxious to hear constructive suggestions for improvements.

However, whatever law is passed, it must ensure that classified information remains classified. To balance that obvious necessity, committee members can tell Parliament if they believe something is wrong, even when they can’t reveal classified details. A complaint would put tremendous pressure on the governmentof-the-day to make it right, and that pressure won’t go away until the committee tells Canadians the problem has been fixed. That is the unique value of having a parliamentary vehicle for scrutiny and review.

Canadians have been clear: they want their rights protected and their safety defended. Bill C-22 is designed to do both, fulfilling a cornerstone commitment we made to Canadians in last year’s election.

THE PROPOSED INTELLIGENCE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE WOULD MAKE CANADA A LEADER AMONG OUR CLOSEST ALLIES.